Bestseller Case (The Genesis Code
) offers a gripping contemporary thriller with an intriguing concept—that terrorists would seek to use the secrets of famed inventor Nikolai Tesla to develop a weapon to cripple the U.S. The prime plotter, Jack Wilson, who's recently released from prison, harbors a consuming hatred against America, stemming from both losing a patent idea to eminent domain and the country's oppression of his Native American ancestors. Allying himself with an al-Qaeda offshoot, Wilson assembles technology to duplicate what he believes was a harmonic resonance weapon used by the dead genius to cause the legendary Tunguska crater in Siberia in 1908. Since the U.S. intelligence services are riven by incompetence and wrangling, a businessman who may have helped Wilson to launder money winds up in charge of trying to foil Wilson's plot. High quality prose helps offset an improbable detour at the end leading to an unconvincing resolution. (Aug.)
